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Do Any Advantages Exist to Choosing a Snoring Mouth Guard Over a CPAP Device?

If you’ve recently received a diagnosis of sleep apnea from your doctor, you might be feeling depressed right now. After all, with the diagnosis comes a recommendation to begin CPAP therapy, lose weight, start an exercise routine, and stop drinking alcohol. Your entire life is about to change right before your eyes.

New Routines

Now, instead of hopping into bed at the end of the day, you’ll be getting your CPAP equipment ready to use. Plus, you’ll have to watch what you eat and drink. You’ll also need to learn how to use your equipment properly as well as how to clean it. Do you have any other options? The truth for most of you is that you don’t have any other choices to make. Snoring mouth guards, while touted as being successful, simply cannot resolve sleep apnea for most individuals.

Snoring Mouth Guards

Snoring mouth guards come in a wide variety of shapes, colors, and styles, and all of them are designed to achieve the same goal – getting you to stop snoring. It all looks good on paper – the promises to reduce your snoring by holding your mouth open and even more promises to let you sleep peacefully and quietly for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, studies have shown that snoring mouth guards aren’t effective in treating sleep apnea in most people who suffer with this condition.

Perhaps the only advantage to choosing this type of mouth guard is that it’s cheaper to purchase than CPAP equipment. Well, it might also prevent you from grinding your teeth, but that isn’t really your problem, is it?

Why They Won’t Work

Despite the fact that this type of device is designed to keep you from making all kinds of disturbing sounds throughout the night, it can’t do anything about the soft tissues of the mouth and throat that block your airway as your body relaxes. Plus, it can’t eliminate the fat deposits in your neck that shrink your airway. Moreover, if you suffer from central sleep apnea, neurological issues are behind your problem; and a snoring mouth guard can’t resolve those. A snoring mouth guard might provide an opening for air to enter into your mouth, but it can’t push the air through your airway.

CPAP Masks and Machines

CPAP equipment is designed to provide a continuous flow of air so that the individual is able to breathe freely. It eliminates stoppages in breathing that can increase an individual’s blood pressure and risk of developing heart disease. Since the device pushes air into the airway, the person never stops breathing.

If your sleep physician has diagnosed you with sleep apnea, it is important to your health to follow his guidelines for suggested treatment. CPAP equipment provides the best option for dealing with the issues of interrupted breathing during sleep. Losing weight, exercising, and avoiding alcohol and caffeine can enhance the results you get while using your CPAP device.